Semites or Proto-Semites arrived on the peninsula thousands of years ago, ultimately from Africa. Central Semites occupied the middle and north of the peninsula; South Semites the south; there are still tens of thousands of speakers of South Arabian languages today. By the classical period, the Central Semitic language of Arabic was written, and its dialects were already diverse. The change in religion in the seventh century wrought linguistic change. The prophet, Mohammed, elevated the deus otiosus, Allah, to monotheist status, eventually de-legitimizing the old god's three daughter-goddesses, who had been the old religion's focus. He spread his new religion throughout Arabia and beyond, and with it the dialect in which his holy book, the Qoran, was written. Thus, while classical Arabic is now a learned religious language, the dialects of the peninsula--and elsewhere--are Central Semitic; the South Semitic languages are quite diminished. Mohammed not only overthrew the old indiginous religion, but also ended the peninsula's religious diversity, which had included Christians--orthodox and heterodox--and Jews.